Prison officer application timeline: Commonwealth applicant
I have found so much info on here that helped me with my application, my turn to give back and sort of document what the journey looks like for me.
I’ll start with the application and my background:
I am currently on graduate visa, hoping to be sponsored by HMPPS, I have completed my OAC and scored 78% a little higher than I thought I would.
So how did I manage to score that high?
On the SBT tests, I did well on Numerical at 10.0 and bang average on Behaviours: 6.25, this was my analytical side taking over especially when the options were between between being pragmatic or caring. I took note of it and knew I had to work on it for my OAC.
For my OAC, I watched the videos, a few guys on TikTok who talk about it but there is not much info out there. Main thing I noted was to use STAR for your answers and noting what skills and strengths are being assessed for what part of the interview.
Let’s break it down to the three different parts of the OAC:
Interview.
You will have two different parts, Strength based and behavior based. It’s pretty obvious the latter is what you do well and excel at while the former is things you to lead to effective performance on the job.
There are different skills assessed for the two parts, be familiar with them and how you will shine your skills and behaviors through.Writing assessment
I had this second, it was pretty straightforward, you read, understand, synthesize the information and wrote a short report.
Take your time to read through the scenario, understand and don’t be afraid to refer back if you need to. You don’t have to write alot but write well, clear and concise sentences and give your options, risks and mitigations as well.Role play
This is the part I was dreading the most, I have never been an actor but it was actually fun. Go in open minded remember to not just listen but actively listen. To start of you’ll have a few minutes to read the scenario and make a game plan, this is nice but you’ll realise pretty fast that you will have to adapt quickly so be flexible and don’t pay too much attention to your game plan.
Remember to listen, be empathetic, offer solutions and adapt to the scenario. Also be firm with things you can’t do and remember the rules in the scenario.
And mainly have fun!
That was my OAC and it went well, I am on merit path so I am still waiting for an offer I will definitely update the thread once I have more.
Thank you!